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The Energy Portal Welcome to Wikipedia's Energy portal, your gateway to energy. This portal is aimed at giving you access to all energy related topics in all of its forms.
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Introduction
Energy (from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia) 'activity') is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat and light. Energy is a conserved quantity—the law of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed; matter and energy may also be converted to one another. The unit of measurement for energy in the International System of Units (SI) is the joule (J).
Forms of energy include the kinetic energy of a moving object, the potential energy stored by an object (for instance due to its position in a field), the elastic energy stored in a solid object, chemical energy associated with chemical reactions, the radiant energy carried by electromagnetic radiation, the internal energy contained within a thermodynamic system, and rest energy associated with an object's rest mass.
All living organisms constantly take in and release energy. The Earth's climate and ecosystems processes are driven primarily by radiant energy from the sun. The energy industry provides the energy required for human civilization to function, which it obtains from energy resources such as fossil fuels, nuclear fuel, renewable energy, and geothermal energy. (Full article...)
Selected article
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.
In 2020, Scotland had 12 gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity capacity, which produced about a quarter of total UK renewable generation. In decreasing order of capacity, Scotland's renewable generation comes from onshore wind, hydropower, offshore wind, solar PV and biomass. Scotland exports much of this electricity. On 26 January 2024, the Scottish Government confirmed that Scotland generated the equivalent of 113% of Scotland's electricity consumption from renewable energy sources, making it the highest percentage figure ever recorded for renewable energy production in Scotland. It was hailed as "a significant milestone in Scotland's journey to net zero" by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, Neil Gray. It becomes the first time that Scotland produced more renewable energy than it actually consumed, and demonstrates the "enormous potential of Scotland's green economy" as claimed by Gray. (Full article...)
Selected image
Photo credit: From an image by Arnold Paul
Coal-fired power stations transform chemical energy into 36%-48% electricity and 52%-64% waste heat.
Did you know?
- The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant was the world's first civilian nuclear power plant while Sellafield (pictured) was the world's first commercial nuclear power station?
- The Chinese energy company Fushun Mining Group operates the largest oil shale plant in the world consisting 220 Fushun-type retorts?
- Three of the four largest power stations in the world are in South America?
- Adriatic LNG is the world's first offshore gravity-based structure LNG regasification terminal?
- The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is the world's largest wind farm at 735.5 megawatt?
- Scotland has 85% of the United Kingdom's hydro-electric energy resource?
- The day when Exxon canceled its Colony Shale Oil Project in Colorado is known by locals as "Black Sunday"?
- The Australian energy company Linc Energy is the first company in the world to produce synthetic fuel by combining underground coal gasification and gas-to-liquid technologies?
Selected biography
Born in Ireland, Thomson studied at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. On graduating, he became a mathematics teacher at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. During his life Thomson published more than 600 scientific papers and filed over 70 patents.
As early as 1845 Thomson pointed out that the experimental results of William Snow Harris were in accordance with the laws of Coulomb. Over the period 1855 to 1867, Thomson collaborated with Peter Guthrie Tait the Treatise on Natural Philosophy that unified the various branches of physical science under the common principle of energy. His inventions included the current balance for the precise specification of the ampere, the standard unit of electric current.
In 1893, Thomson headed an international commission to decide on the design of the Niagara Falls power station. Despite his previous belief in the superiority of direct current electric power transmission, he agreed to use alternating current after seeing a Westinghouse demonstration at the Chicago World's Fair.
In the news
- 30 September 2024 – Coal phase-out, Energy in the United Kingdom
- The last coal-fired power station in the United Kingdom shuts down in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire, England, ending the 142-year history of coal-fired electricity in the UK. (The Guardian)
- 20 September 2024 – Ukraine–European Union relations
- President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announces a loan of up to €35 billion (US$39 billion) for Ukraine in military and energy support following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's drafting of a new victory plan against Russia. (Reuters)
- 18 September 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- Several home solar energy systems explode in Beirut, Lebanon. (ABC News)
General images
Quotations
- "Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter." – Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, 1954
- "There is every possibility that you will soon be able to tax it." – Michael Faraday, talking to William Gladstone on the future purpose of electricity.
- "Higher energy prices act like a tax. They reduce the disposable income people have available for other things after they've paid their energy bills." – John W. Snow, 2005
- "Our dependence on foreign energy is like a foreign tax on the American people." – George W. Bush, 2005
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